Ars talks to the developers behind The Blocks Cometh and Lugaru HD, both of …

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Imagine this: you and a partner develop a popular Flash game, one that's good enough that you decide to get to work on an iPhone port. Then, one day, while browsing the App Store, you see your game. Problem is, the port isn't done yet. That's the situation that Halfbot Games found itself in. The small, two-man studio from London, Ontario was the victim of an incredibly bold clone of the game The Blocks Cometh. It wasn't just the gameplay that was stolen, but the actual art assets and even the name. And while everything seems to have turned out all right, the story of Halfbot and The Blocks Cometh is one filled with plenty of frustration.

And it's not the only one.

Founded last May, Halfbot consists of just two developers: Melvin Samuel and Derek Laufman. After some success developing Flash games, on January 12 the studio announced it would be getting into the mobile market. "We will be looking into iPhone, Android, and other platforms for some of our future titles and we look forward to all the challenges that go along with that," Laufman wrote on the studio's blog. Just two days later, they discovered the copy.

What are we gonna do?

"We were scrambling late that night to find an email address to contact Apple," Laufman told Ars. "We managed to find one, so I emailed Apple outlining the situation and how it infringed on our copyright. I created an image of a side-by-side comparison of the two games as proof and included it along with a link to our original Flash game. We tried to find information on this EdisonGame company [developers of the iPhone clone] to contact them, but there was no website and no email contacts to be found. Feeling very helpless at that moment I decided to reach out to some media outlets and warn people to avoid buying this stolen game."

At the time, the game had cracked the top 200 chart in the App Store, and was actually featured in Apple's "New and Noteworthy" section. It eventually made into the top 100, selling to unsuspecting—or uncaring—customers for $0.99. The game has since been taken down, but for Halfbot the damage may already be done.

"The question will be, are all those people that bought the game in the first place willing to buy it a second time?" asked Laufman. "We sure hope so. Apple featured The Blocks Cometh in both 'New and Noteworthy' and the 'What's Hot' categories in their App Store, which is a definite factor in any app's success. We'd like to think The Blocks Cometh by Halfbot will get the same chance to prove itself. Those features may ultimately make or break how well the game performs in the store. If we don't make it into the top 100 games when our version is released then we'll know it definitely [affected] our game in a negative way."

Too close for comfort

While he declined to say whether or not Halfbot would be pursing any sort of legal action, Laufman does believe that EdisonGame definitely crossed a line. Clones and copycats are nothing new to the games industry, especially in the App Store, but this was something different.

"Our feeling is that a game 'concept' or 'mechanic' are commonly used to inspire new ideas and create new games," he told Ars. "That's how games evolve and get better. We wouldn't have Call of Duty and Medal of Honor to choose from if this wasn't the case. It's good for the game industry, like it is for all creative mediums. We definitely don't see a problem with that as long as it's within reason. If we had only our concept copied then that wouldn't have bothered us as much. However, when you decide to steal our name, our art, and try to capitalize on a brand that we created, well then we have a serious problem.

"It's no different at that point than stealing money from our wallets."

The situation also taught Laufman and Samuel the power of the Internet. The story received a great deal of attention after a number of news outlets, starting with Destructoid, posted the news. For a small, little-known company this was extremely helpful and likely the reason that the clone was eventually taken down. Even still, the experience was a sobering one for Halfbot, who realized that there are few options when it comes to fighting this sort of thing.

The Blocks Cometh

"I don't think there is too much we can do as developers to stop theft like this from happening [except] to keep your eyes open and your ear to the ground," Laufman told Ars. "You never know what you might find happening with something you worked hard to create."

You have the right to an attorney, if you can afford one

Even if Halfbot decides not to pursue legal action, the option does exist. According to Mona A. Ibrahim, an entertainment lawyer who specializes in the area of copyright law, if the studio did decide to seek out damages, it would have two different choices for how to proceed.

"If they chose to pursue a claim, under US Copyright law they would likely be entitled to a choice between statutory damages if they registered and included a copyright symbol with their work, or actual damages/profits from the sale—it's a choice as to what you decide to go after, what you're entitled to based on statutory requirements and actual harm suffered, and actual profits seen by the defendant," Ibrahim told Ars. "They may also be entitled to additional damages under US Unfair Competition/Trademark (Lanham Act) law, which may be at a minimum actual profits seen from sales of the clone game and at a maximum—if, for example, they registered their mark—treble damages."

Unfortunately, it can take quite a bit of money to get those damages returned. According to Ibrahim, the majority of these cases are settled before the trial, with the understanding that both sides will cover their own legal fees. "Most small developers have a hard time swallowing that cost," she explained. "At a minimum they should at least consult an attorney and get an idea of how difficult it will be to reach the defendant and squeeze money out of them."

We attempted to contact Apple to discuss the issue, but didn't receive a response before press time. The company does have a specific contact for issues regarding copyright infringement, and explains that "[Apple] respects the intellectual property rights of others, and we ask our users to do the same. Apple may, in its sole discretion, terminate the accounts of users who violate others’ intellectual property rights." However, the slow pace at which it responds to issues of alleged clones seems to run counter to this statement.

But... but... I thought the Walled Garden was supposed to make all of those things 'right'?

You thought wrong. The walled garden has nothing to do with piracy, a lot of it has to do with minimizing the malicious fools who can cause damage with rogue apps. Pirates will be pirates, no matter what.

You thought wrong. The walled garden has nothing to do with piracy, a lot of it has to do with minimizing the malicious fools who can cause damage with rogue appscontrol and making sure Apple gets its cut.

Don't forget to mention Crush the Castle vs Angry Birds! Angry Birds got wildly popular off Crush the Castle's formula, and the two are stupidly similar. Although, kudos to Angry Birds for taking the concept and slapping on better graphics and sound...

You know, I think this is deplorable behavior on anyone's part. Intellectual property is intellectual property - and that's that. It's a shame to see this kind of thing happen.

That said, I find it interesting that the same people who complain about Apple's "walled garden" are the same people saying that Apple isn't doing enough in their approval process. I agree, if you are going to have an approval process, have an approval process that works in every way conceivable. I have always thought that Apple's approach to the vetting of material on the store was a good thing. I just think that they are trying to get everything that comes across into the fray as quickly as possible that some (bad) things are slipping through. Maybe they need a bigger team working the approvals? I dunno what the answer is.

sigh...Are has truly jumped the shark. What a piece of hit-generating, sensationalizing bunk!

There are over 300,000 apps in the App Store, you come up with three examples of copyright problems, and Ars declares it a problem! It sounds like a solution to me. The retail sales world wishes it could control copyright infringement to thus degree!

On top of this, the marketplaces on Android are NOTORIOUS for infringement, and there is nary a mention of it's problems. Remarkable and sad.

"We were scrambling late that night to find an email address to contact Apple," Laufman told Ars. "We managed to find one, "

I didn't scramble, I moseyed to Apple.com, scrolled to the bottom of the page and clicked on Site Map. Then I clicked on Legal and in less than 60 seconds I found http://www.apple.com/legal/contacts.html

But... but... I thought the Walled Garden was supposed to make all of those things 'right'?

Better, sure, completely foolproof, no way. The developer was able to get the App Store to remove the offending app. If we were dealing with "traditional" approach of websites that sell apps, they would have been pretty much screwed.

sigh...Are has truly jumped the shark. What a piece of hit-generating, sensationalizing bunk!

There are over 300,000 apps in the App Store, you come up with three examples of copyright problems, and Ars declares it a problem! It sounds like a solution to me. The retail sales world wishes it could control copyright infringement to thus degree!

On top of this, the marketplaces on Android are NOTORIOUS for infringement, and there is nary a mention of it's problems. Remarkable and sad.

Glad they got the copycat removed, but, ultimately, there are very few truly original ideas in the gaming world anymore. Speaking of original ideas, theft, and plagiarism… you should all watch this series and keep it on your radar:

You should at least search your own database for something named similar. Or do a google search on it, see that its made by a different developer, and maybe ask a couple of questions before you just say "OK!!"

Wow, well written article Andrew. It's a shame that people will do this with everything from knock off Rolexes to software. Piracy is one thing, not good and the publisher and developer see nothing, but this is worse. Customers are buying counterfeit software basically. Here's hoping the recent bout of publicity gets the attention of the various app store owners.

First off, I'm not even going to start the fight of copyright vs. trademark (both are in play on most of these cases), worse if those trademarks were not in fact properly registered in advance and are relying only on prior art as proof...

Apple is the middle man here. They have 100,000 devs, who submitted near half a million apps (300,000 currently hosted), but SEVERAL million VERSIONS of those apps (iterative updates, both before and after release). Sometimes the company name changes, sometimes companies split, and one dev from the old company keep the rights under a newly founded company name. Some companies get bought and re=post the same game under a new company name. There's NO easy tie between a piece of software, it's content, a trademark name, a company name, and a specific developer who may independently own rights or IP to ANY of the above.

Apple is not a party to the legal distinction between who own what, they simply note that Company A posts a package, CLAIMS, in a legal form as part of the dev agreement, that they have acquired all appropriate rights to the content they're posting, and that is about it. If another company posts an nearly identical title (not that apple has the time or systems to actually compare each new release to another directly to cross check as many suspect they should), Apple has NO CLUE if Company B actually has rights to it or not (they very well MAY!)

If/when disputes arise, Apple is in a sticky place. They can't simply pull the "accused" app, as it very well might actually BE legally posted, and pulling it without a court order puts APPLE in the sights of the company offended. they equally can't pull both apps and let the two sort it out (for the same reason). To an extent, they can say to company B "company A has accused you of stealing their IP, do you have documents allowing its use backing up your right to post it?" and company B might say "well, they open sourced it on mm/dd/yyyy, and they have no officially filed trademarks on the art or other content, so we can post it, right?" and then a court has to get involved...

For some firms, like the guys behind tetris, its WELL KNOWN that no one is allowed to replicate that IP without specific approval, so Apple can be a bit pro-active, but in indie games, from less known firms, and without very rigid legal paper trails and registered marks (worse if even PART of it has been open sourced, sold by a 3rd party in a bundle, or sub-licensed in any way), Apple is not in a legal position to make decisions. They can not render judgment that might effect the bottom line of EITHER firm, unless there is detail and clear violation (typically in the form of company B says, yup, we stole it, and tells apple to pull it).

People saying apple should be proactive simply don;t understand that the IP does not live within a company, and that companies do change names and employees and get bought, and that means IP moves around. They also don;t know who did and did not get a license to use the IP, disputed or not, nor potential that a contract was approved, but one side failed to live up and there's a dispute? Its a mess, and Apple is doing the right thing: letting the courts, and legal system already in place to handle this type of isse handle this type of issue.

Do you think retailers back in the day should have pulled either Word Perfect or Microsoft Word when those two associated companies kicked off their legal tussle (which took the better part of a decade to resolve?) And if they had, what would the damage have been to some firm who did pull the package(s), and turned out to back the wrong horse???

Don't forget to mention Crush the Castle vs Angry Birds! Angry Birds got wildly popular off Crush the Castle's formula, and the two are stupidly similar. Although, kudos to Angry Birds for taking the concept and slapping on better graphics and sound...

Many/most of the games are just ports/copies of various Flash based games already out there... Crush the Castle, Tower Defense, etc... just different graphics.

Apple does not give a damn as they get their 30% cut and they know those devs will be back giving them more cuts.

If they were truly serious about protecting their devs they would make a rule that:- They would terminate the offending devs account _and_ he may never return- Any money owed would go to the person who actually owns the original- process these cases quickly- (more strong tactics like the ones mentioned above)

First off, I'm not even going to start the fight of copyright vs. trademark (both are in play on most of these cases), worse if those trademarks were not in fact properly registered in advance and are relying only on prior art as proof...

How dare you inject reason and complexity into an argument. Lazy people HATE complex issues! Give us simple answers!

Just to clear something up: if you open-source the CODE to your game make it very clear that it's just the code. Heck, if you really want to protect yourself don't even release the art assets (sprites, models, sound...) of your game with the code, only with the final bundles you sell to customers.

Open-source isn't a problem, naive thinking is. If you release stuff for free get ready for unscrupulous people trying to get a quick buck of your work even if you don't release the code. Open-source code because you believe in the underlying principles not as a marketing move.

What does Ars care anymore about being a good source of technical info on the web. They got their Conde Nast money. Now they're just looking for easy hits, like Gizmodo.

I'm going to have to agree here. The articles on this site have gotten more inane since I first got here. There is a lack of journalism, just cheap, flashy titles and anemic stories to go along with them to induce page click through. I'm very disappointed with Ars lately.

Jeffrey need fear not about Revenge of the Titans on the app store. There's 180mb of graphics, 60mb of sound, and all the code is written in Java, so even if it was nicely commented and open source (which it will be soonish), it hasn't got a snowball's chance in Hell* of actually getting onto the App Store anyway for either Macs or iOS one way or the other

I trust everyone who believes Apple should be more proactive in policing this stuff also shows up in threads on Google to support the *AA's claim that Youtube should be more proactive about screening content without needing takedown notices.

Don't forget to mention Crush the Castle vs Angry Birds! Angry Birds got wildly popular off Crush the Castle's formula, and the two are stupidly similar. Although, kudos to Angry Birds for taking the concept and slapping on better graphics and sound...

1. Crush the Castle's idea isn't unique by any sense. There have been games with similar concepts since at least the SNES.2. Angry Birds is a lot better than Crush. The story, graphics, and sound that make up Angry Birds make it a much more fun game to play, IMO.3. The whole point of the article was that developers don't really mind finding inspiration in ideas and mechanics of other games, it's when they're stole outright, graphics and all, that there is an issue.

I trust everyone who believes Apple should be more proactive in policing this stuff also shows up in threads on Google to support the *AA's claim that Youtube should be more proactive about screening content without needing takedown notices.

The difference here is that every App submitted is already screened as it goes through an existing approval process. It's just a case of adding another step to make sure the game is not ripping off assets from an existing game. I trust that Apple are already considering how to implement this; other stores without any sort of screening, on the other hand...

Apple does not give a damn as they get their 30% cut and they know those devs will be back giving them more cuts.

If they were truly serious about protecting their devs they would make a rule that:- They would terminate the offending devs account _and_ he may never return- Any money owed would go to the person who actually owns the original- process these cases quickly- (more strong tactics like the ones mentioned above)

But this is apple: screw everyone else as long as we make money.

Luckily Apple just updated the developer rules to specifically mention that they will terminate developer accounts of those copying other developer's work. However, speed in some of these legal issues isn't always the best thing especially if you are going to have the power to give one developer's income to another. The last thing you want is to be incorrect since that would make the situation even worse and wrong draconian Apple would will an even worse PR situation than these slow draconian Apple claims. It'd be even worse, if a copycat developer actually accuses the original developer, pressures Apple for a quick resolution, and Apple accidentally suspends or terminates the legitimate original developer. It's best to take time to fully analyze the situation and ideally let the developers involved work it out themselves and minimize involvement.

I don't browse the Mac store (not an Apple fan personally; exposure is limited to my ipod), but the Android Market is just as bad. I am really surprised that Apple / Google are not doing more to clamp down on the insane amounts of copyright theft on their market stores. On Android Market, I've seen things as bad as people selling ROMS of NES games with ads overlayed on the game. The complete lack of quality control on all the new app markets makes me have no interest in browsing them (though obviously that seems to put me in the minority, looking at sales).

Hmm isn't apple a liable a part in this because they take 30%. They can be considered a publisher?

I was wondering that as well.

If the developer agreement doesn't allows devs to sue Apple for issues like this, it still might be an issue for app devs not developing for the App Store (but have their content stolen and put up), as they would have signed no such agreement.